Help Topic: XWIS Rules & EA Guidelines

These rules apply to both clan and single player tournament games unless otherwise stated.

These are largely based on the original Westwood rules, however please note the important amendments to allow for the current state of the tournament, for XWIS to be kept cheat-free, and to improve the tournament.

XWIS Rules

Sabotaging Internet connection

Commonly known as washing by disconnection. If you accidentally disconnect in a game and it ends in a wash you must give your opponent a free win. Failue to do so in a game that you were losing is regarded as cheating. If you are experiencing connection problems you are advised not to play tournament games until this is resolved ad this cannot be taken as an excuse for wash games.

Arranged wins or losses

Commonly known as pushing. Player records will are constantly scrutinized for any signs of pushing. The exception to this rule is when a genuine server error, game bug, or some other accidental reason causes the game to be washed. If one player was clearly winning when the error occurred the players may agree to sort this out fairly by the the losing player giving a free win to the winning player. However to avoid creating suspicion it is recommended you make a post in the Fair Play section giving full details with proof. Failure to post this in the fair play section may result in both players being investigated ALSO NOTE : If a player is proven of deliberately cheating then offering a free win to avoid reset will not be accepted. The free win policy is not set up to give cheaters the opportunity to try and get away with cheating and only offer a free win if they get caught. If you are proven to have cheated deliberately you will therefore be reset regardless of whether or not you offer a free win.

Absolutely no use of cheats

Typical cheats include (but are not limited to) hacks, editors, trainers, mods, or any other program, software, modification or patch other than as released by Westwood, EA, XWIS & Strike-Team. Please note there is absolutely no exception to this rule. Remember that on XWIS if you lose points to a cheater you will have them reimbursed providing you give full proof. Therefore there is no excuse for washing even cheaters. Players games will be regularly scrutinized for any games that ended in reconnection errors whilst losing. Any player found to have reconnection errors whilst losing may be investigated.

Wins per day limit

There is a limit to how many times you can win vs an opponent in one day. For 1v1 ladder games the limit is 3 wins/day. For clan ladder games the limit is 5 wins/day. This rule is implemented to reduce the possibility of arranging wins (pushing) between players or clans. The previous Westwood-Style # wins/month rule has been replaced by a # wins/day rule. This should allow players and clans to play more games versus the same opponents while further reducing pushing in the last day of the month.
For Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge, the limit is 3 wins/day. For Tiberian Sun, the limit is 3 wins/day for players and 5 wins/day for clans.
Technically, the server looks at the games played in the last 18 hours, so you can't win 3 times just before midnight and then also win 3 times just after. Note : To prevent this rule being broken deliberately or accidentally the ladder automatically discounts any wins against a person once they have been beaten the maximum number of times already that day. You will see the games registered on your list however there will be no points change for those games. However, although games against the same person under different nicknames may not be discounted automatically, Admin may remove these points manually at their discretion if foul play is suspected.

Map Quotas (RA2 individual player ladder)

A single map cannot exceed more than 25% of your total games at the end of the month. In order to address the issue of 1-mapping there is now a 25% maximum map quota. This means that a single map cannot exceed more than 25% of your total games at the end of the month. If you play qm in the correct way you will not need to worry about this quota since you will not be randomly matched on a map more than 25% of the time. If you play custom tournament it is your responsibility to make sure that you play a wide enough selection of maps so as not to break this rule. Any one that has breached this rule at the end of the month will be disqualified from entry into the HOF or winning an XWIS prize.

Exploitation of bugs

Exploitation of bugs such as the invisible MCV, spy in your own battle lab or map features that cause reconnection errors is not allowed on XWIS. Bug exploitation is considered cheating in XWIS. Note if you are losing a game and an error occurs that causes the game to be washed or a loss to the other player. You will be expected to give a win to the other player. Failure to so may result in you being investigated and reset.

Multi-clanning

You may not play against any other clan that you are a member of. Note training clans are considered to be part of the main clan.

If you move to a new clan you cannot play against your old clan during the current tournament month.

Moving to a new clan. If you move to a new clan in the middle of the month any points gained from games you have played between your new and old clans will be deducted at the end of the month.

Admin Personal Messages

You may receive a personal message from XWIS Admin. This will appear in white every time you log in to the server. These messages are important. If you are requested to do something - such as give a free win or respond to a cheat report then it is important that you do so. Failure to take the required action may result in you being penalized or banned.

Shared nicknames, serials, and IP addresses

You may not play against anyone in your household or IP address in a tournament game. You may not play against someone that you have shared a serial or nickname with during the current month in a tournament or clan game.

Any other tournament practice

The contest coordination staff deems unfair will be cause for disqualification or banning. Game lists may also be scrutinized and decisions made if their is clear evidence of cheating from a player's record. This allows for the admin to take action against any other form of cheating not covered in the above topics at their discretion. We reserve the right to investigate any player for unfair play at any time.

Guidelines

Penalties

The penalties for cheating on XWIS are designed to be strong enough to deter most players from cheating and protect fair players. But at the same time they allow for second chance to players that give up cheating, which also guards against not permanently excluding large numbers of potential fair/reformed players from the servers. All penalties include both resetting of the players score, a Ban from the server and disqualification from that month's Hall of Fame. (minor rule infringements where there is no proven intent to cheat will be dealt with by deducting points). Note: that bans are intended to ban the offending player from all XWIS servers, therefore various methods will be used to ensure that banned players are not able to play on XWIS during their ban. Changing serials will not get you off your ban, it will simply add the ban to the new serial. Any player deliberately dodging their bans will have their bans increased incrementally at the discretion of Admins.
PENALTIES

1st Offense: Rank reset and 16 day server ban

2nd Offense: Rank reset and 32 day server ban

3rd+ Offense: Rank reset and 64 day server ban

Sharing nicks

It is not recommended that you share your nicknames or serial numbers with any other player. If you do then you share liability for all activity on that nickname. If you share a nickname or serial number with someone that is caught cheating you may also find yourself reset and banned from the server even if it was not you in the game. This is because the system resets all nicknames and serial numbers linked to that nick. This cannot be reversed so if you chose to share a nick you do so at your own risk.

Reporting

It is recommended that you report ALL of your wash games. If you were washed by a cheater then reporting this cheater will result in him being blacklisted and therefore benefit all XWIS players. If you were losing a game that results in a wash for whatever reason you must make a post in the fair play forum explaining (with full proof) exactly what happened. You must also offer a win to the winning player. Failure to do so may result in u being investigated and possibly reset on the XWIS ladder. Please ensure you provide FULL proof when making a game report. If you do not provide full proof you make more work for ST, delay or prevent action being taken against the cheater, and delay or prevent your lost points being returned.

Point reimbursement

Points will be reimbursed if you provide full proof that u lost to a cheater in that particular game. You must not play any more games until your points have been returned. If you play a single game between the game against the cheater and your points being given back you forfeit the right to have your points back. This is the only way we can ensure that the you receive the correct points for subsequent games. Strike Team process all game reports where points are to be returned as a priority therefore you will not have to wait long.

Anti-Bailing measures

This measure is in place to stop players bailing for unfair reasons. However the measure is implemented in such a way that it allows someone to bail if the game is extremely laggy. If the game is running at above 45 FPS (frames per second) there is 0 bail time. That means that if you leave the game it will count as a loss against you. An equation has however been factored into the server to give you time to leave in a laggy game. The laggier the game the slightly longer time you have to quit. But beware that if you bail in a non - laggy game it will count against you - and there will be not retrieval of points in this situation from ST.

Prizes

Strike Team Reserve the right to withhold the shipping of prizes to any player that abuses the site or XWIS staff. Players banned from Strike Team site are exempt from winning prizes. Players repeatedly banned from XWIS for cheating will also be exempt from winning prizes

Hacking, relay, bots, abuse of service

Hacking of any kind, use of relay, any other bots, and third party tools in the lobby are forbidden on XWIS. Admin may also take action against any players they consider to be abusing the server, or a threat to the server security. Immediate and indefinite bans will be issued to any hacking, or security threats to XWIS, or anyone abusing the lobby in any way.

Advertising

Advertising of websites (other than official XWIS websites) or any other advertising is not allowed on the server.

Abuse of Admins

XWIS remains the property of the admins and they reserve the right to withdraw access to this service to anyone who grossly abuses the priviledge of using it.

Game Modes and settings

Crates We do not support Crates in tournament games due to the number of anomalies that can occur when crates are on. If you chose to play with crates on you do so at your own risk.

Unsuitable Nicknames & clan names

Unsuitable names will be deleted. These include nicknames & clan names that are profane, racist, or impersonating an XWIS admin. If your nickname is deleted you will lose any points earned on it in that month.

XWIS Admin reserve the right to amend these rules at any time. If any major rules amendments are made they will be publicised in the news sections of xwis.net. However it is your responsibility to check the rules periodically for any changes.